COLUMBUS – After the girls powerlifting teams of New Hope and Caledonia both earned podium finishes at their MHSAA Class 5A powerlifting meet, the boys teams of both schools followed up in similar fashion Friday with both squads also taking home top finishes.
New Hope captured the first-place gold medal with a total of 45 total points; four Trojans earned first place while two finished in second place, one finished third and two finished in fourth in their respective weight classes.
“I’m proud of the boys,” head coach Brad Butler said. “They’ve worked really hard and this is one of those sports that whatever you put into is kind of what you are going to get out of it. So, I’m proud for them.”
Christian Park won the 132-pound division with a total score of 930 points, Jacob Nesom won the 165-pound division with a score of 1,060 and brothers Micah and Tari’q Butler both won first place in the 275 and 242-pound division, respectively. Micah had a score of 1,460 and Tari’q finished with 1,390.
Connor Richards took silver in the 148-pound weight class with a total score of 900 points along with Aiden Hysaw, who also finished in second place in the 198-pound division with a total of 1,170 points. Braden Blanchard captured third in the 123-pound division with 600 points, and Kendrick Stewart-Cockrell (198) and Bobby Bain (220) each finished in fourth place with 1,140 and 1,215 total points, respectively.
Seven of the nine Trojans who competed at the North Half meet earned the right to compete in the state powerlifting meet on March 28.
“We have a lot of work to do before then,” Butler said. “That’s our hope (to win a state championship), and it’s more about us than anybody else. We just have to get back to work. There’s other teams going to have a large number of participants coming in from the other side and Cleveland Central has a good number that qualified as well, so we’ve got our work cut out for us. We just have to go back to work.”
Caledonia just behind the Trojans in third at the North Half meet , earning 26 points as a team. The Cavaliers will send five lifters to the state meet.
“It’s the most guys that we’ve ever had qualify for the state meet at one time,” head coach Jason Forrester said. … “But they did a really good job. They have worked really hard with our program being in flux right with the football program; our new head coach coming in and old head coach leaving out. We’ve tried to help keep things going real well and three of the guys who qualified are football players and that is a big improvement.”
Leading the way for the Cavaliers were four with second-place finishes: Mason Parker in the 114-pound division with 655 points, Sy Rushing in the 165-pound division with 1,010 points, Holden Counts in the 181-pound division with 1,170 points and Eli Cantrell in the 308-plus weight class with 1,375 points.
“(Cantrell is a) super heavy-weight guy. He (has) a 535 squad, 545 deadlift and 275 bench and still has more in the tank,” Forrester said. “We’re still figuring out what he can do.”
Jaylon Washington finished third place in the 308-pound weight class with 1,340 total points, Aaden Russell earned fourth place in the 148-pound division with 880 points and both Woods Gramling (242) and Isaac Hurt (275) finished in fifth place.
The Cavs have set their sights on continuing their growth as a program at the state meet and plan on using the time they have to prepare for another excellent showing.
“They’re all very competitive with where they are,” he said. “A couple of them, they have to make some pretty big gains to be able to try and win a state championship individually, but if they just keep going where they are, they have a good opportunity to finish pretty well as a team.”
Other Golden Triangle notables
Also participating in the meet were West Point and Columbus. The Green Wave sent five lifters with two finishing in first place and one taking home third place.
Tytus Davidson grabbed the gold in the 308-pound division with a total of 1,505 points, and Lamarcus Collins won the 123-pound division with 700 points. Maurice Heard finished in third place in the 165-pound division with 960 points. Those three lifters will represent West Point at the state powerlifting meet. Derrick Bush captured fourth in the 132-weight class with 615 points, and Tyqueze Bean finished sixth.
For the Falcons, Christopher Ross placed fourth in the 308-plus weight class with 1,200 points, and TyShaun Hayden (275) and Javieon Glass (198) both finished in sixth place.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
